The Forgaughtens: The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
The Forgaughtens is a series of posts in which I revisit “forgotten” films that were released between the years 2000 and 2009, or the aughts. All films will be discussed in the context of their release, as well as their cultural relevance today, and at the end of each post, a film will be given […]
Everest Review
RATING: (3 STARS) The only character who matters in Everest is the titular mountain. This is something director Balthasar Kormakur gets across to his audience within minutes. As a group of bodies (that’s all they are in the moment) ascends the face of the mountain, the camera overcomes their understandably slow pace. As they’re pelted […]
The 5 Best Leading Male Performances of 2013
I have way too many fragments of a Best Performances of 2013 list to not write something up. The idea to break apart the list by, for lack of a better term, Oscar category was born out of the desire to highlight some stellar supporting work, which sometimes gets ignored when talking about the very […]
Prisoners Review
RATING: (4 STARS) Prisoners is the most tightly plotted 153-minute movie you’ll ever see. It’s a masterpiece of the crime genre that covers a lot of ground, but every crumb, clue, and detail dropped by director Denis Villeneuve and screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski is essential to its (murky-ish) resolution. Comparisons to films like Se7en and Zodiac […]
2013 TIFF Movies to Watch: #20-#11
Today’s TIFF preview (the penultimate!) features films directed by the likes of Nicole Holofcener, Hirokazu Kore-Eda, and David Gordon Green. 20.) Enough Said Program: Special Presentation Distributor: Fox Searchlight Pictures Directed by: Nicole Holofcener Written by: Nicole Holofcener Starring: Catherine Keener, James Gandolfini, Toni Collette, Julia Louis-Dreyfus Synopsis: This smart and decidedly modern romantic comedy […]
Source Code Review
RATING: (3 STARS) With 2009’s Moon, Duncan Jones offered us one of the better directorial debuts in recent memory. With Source Code, his follow-up, he gives us a solid genre film with a higher budget, bigger stars, and some wild ideas. While it doesn’t reach the heights of his last, it’s akin to something like […]
Zodiac Review
RATING: (2.5 STARS) Ask a random assortment of film lovers what their favorite David Fincher film is and there’s a good chance a majority will vote for Zodiac, the director’s 2007 look at the effects of a serial killer in 1970s San Francisco. Strangely enough, I find Zodiac to be among Fincher’s least successful efforts. […]
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Review
RATING: (2 STARS) “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time†is, I think, about as good as video-game adaptations can get. I hope I’m wrong on that. I would love for something to come along and knock my socks off. But the limitations put on these types of films are probably too great to make […]
Brothers Review
RATING: (3 STARS) “Brothers,†a remake of a 2004 Danish film from director Susanne Bier, continues the trend started earlier this year with “The Hurt Locker†of solid war-themed movies that thankfully do not hinge on the viewer’s political beliefs. That’s not to say this is a pro-war film; it isn’t. However, the message here […]
